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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me stick to what's true for me when someone calls me a name. Amen!

"Are you the king of the Jews?" Governor Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. "You're the one who says I'm a king," Jesus told him, "but I'm not a king of this world. I've come to tell the truth, and anyone who wants to hear the truth will listen to me."

Name-calling by kids can be really mean. You know you're supposed to ignore it; you know words can't hurt you - but sometimes, they do anyway. Even a silly nickname, if you don't like it, can be painful to hear.

This week's Gospel (John 18:33-37) is about name-calling of a different kind. Jesus has been arrested, and Pontius Pilate is trying to figure out if what He's accused of is really true: Did Jesus really call Himself a king?

If so, Jesus is in trouble: The country already has a king, and if it sounds like Jesus is planning to take over, He can be put in jail or executed for that - all because of one word, "king."

One word caused trouble for Jesus, and it can cause trouble for a kid, too. Name-calling can hurt - but the truth is that it doesn't matter what someone calls you if you don't let yourself believe it.

Being called a name hurts a lot less if you say, "That name is not true for me. I know I'm a good person, and there isn't a word you can say that will change my mind."

Jesus told Pilate the same thing. It didn't matter whether Pilate or others said Jesus was a king, because He hadn't said so Himself. He knew He wasn't trying to take over the country; His goal was not to run the government like a king, but to teach people about God.

"Anyone who wants to hear the truth will listen to me," Jesus told Pilate. Anyone who wants to hear the truth about who you are can listen to you, too. Anyone who listens to name-calling obviously isn't interested in what's real.[[In-content Ad]]

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